Werner Guse, Business Unit Executive: Human Capital Management of listed ICT services company GijimaAst, stresses the need for careful differentiation in the current labour broking debate.

While there is a strong belief from organised labour that the only way to protect workers` rights would be the outright banning of all labour broking activities, the position of government at the negotiation table has in the main focused on extensive regulation of the labour broking industry, with employer joint liability and powers to the minister to regulate and prohibit the practice in any specific industry.

Guse believes that many stakeholders in industry do understand the need to bring some form of regulation and protection against exploitation to sectors where the supply and demand characteristics benefit employers. “We accept that in some sectors, the temptation may exist to use alternative employment arrangements to circumvent the laws that serve the interests of vulnerable employment categories.”